The implementation of the family support coordinator intervention increased family satisfaction across a range of parameters. Although there were decreases in length-of-stay and costs, they were not statistically significant. Further research is needed to determine whether intervention refinement could produce lower length-of-stay and costs.

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• Background Long stays in the intensive care unit are associated with high costs and burdens on patients and patients’ families and in turn affect society at large. Although factors that affect length of stay and outcomes of care in the intensive care unit have been studied extensively, the conclusions reached have not been reviewed to determine whether they reveal an organizational pattern that might be of practical use in reducing length of stay in the unit. • Objective To identify and categorize the factors associated with prolonged stays in the intensive care unit and to describe briefly the nonmedical interventions to date designed to reduce length of stay. • Methods Articles published between January 1990 and March 2005 in English-language journals indexed by MEDLINE were searched for studies on outcomes and costs of care in the intensive care unit and on care at the end of life. • Results The emerging consensus is that length of stay in the intensive care unit is exacerbated by several increasingly discernible medical, social, psychological, and institutional factors. At the same time, several nonmedical, experimental interventions have been designed to reduce length of stay. • Conclusions Interventions involving palliative care, ethics consultations, and other methods to increase communication between healthcare personnel, patients, and patients’ families may be helpful in decreasing length of stay in the intensive care unit. Further studies are needed to provide a strategy for targeting specific risk factors indicated by the literature review.

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Summary:During recent decades the doctrine of informed consent has become a standard part of medical care as an expression of patients' rights to self-determination. In situations when only one treatment alternative exists for a potential cure, the extent of a patient's self-determination is constrained. Our hypothesis is that for patients considering a life-saving procedure such as bone marrow transplant (BMT), informed consent has little meaning as a basis for their right to self-determination. A longitudinal study of BMT patients was undertaken with four self-administered questionnaires. Questions centered around expectations, knowledge, anxiety and factors contributing to their decision to undergo treatment. Although the informed consent process made patients more knowledgeable about the treatment, their decision to consent was largely based on positive outcome expectations and on trust in the physician. Informed consent relieved their anxieties and increased their hopes for survival. Our conclusion was that the greatest value of the informed consent process lay in meeting the patients' emotional rather than cognitive needs. When their survival is at stake and BMT represents their only option, the patient's vulnerability puts a moral responsibility on the physician to respect the principle of beneficence while not sacrificing the patient's right to self-determination. Keywords: informed consent; understanding; trust; beneficence; patient autonomy A patient undergoing a very complex and potentially lifesaving procedure such as a bone marrow transplant (BMT) is required to make difficult decisions based on extensive and complicated information. The difficulties of the decision-making process are exacerbated by the emotionally and physically demanding circumstances surrounding a potentially terminal illness. By virtue of having a particular life-threatening illness, patients are, so to speak, 'forced' to consider BMT if they are to have a chance to survive in the long term. In such situations, their voluntariness to consent is constrained.The notion of constrained voluntariness and its impliCorrespondence: LH Jacoby,